Anne Marie's Post: Rouen/ Caen (Day 11)

We all awoke excited to be heading to Caen and be beginning our tour of the Normandy D-Day beaches. We stayed at a lovely hotel in Rouen that offered the most amazing continental breakfast we have ever had! Bread, croissants, pain au chocolat, baguettes, cheese, meat preserves, fruit, cereals, hard boiled eggs, yogurt, tea, coffee --and my favourite--hot milk for chocolat chaud! We were visited throughout the meal by the resident cat who the girls were convinced was possessed, but was simply looking for love in all the wrong places with our crew! Uli headed back to the train station to pick up our vehicle, while the girls and I paid the bill and brought the bags downstairs. We were in the lobby, bill paid and bags at the ready and I was expecting Uli to walk through the door at any second. I walked out to the parking site a couple of times but he was not in view. I was waiting on the street when my phone rang--it was Uli. You may not be aware--as we now are--that on some standard vehicles in Europe, one must pull up on the collar of the gear shifter to put the vehicle in reverse. This hidden tidbit off European driving information was causing Uli some consternation. I headed towards the car to help with this conundrum and could smell a terrible burning odour as I got closer to the car. I stepped inside and we tried to resolve the issue of "reversing" and to find the source of the toxic odour. Of course there was no manual in the vehicle. Why would you need to put an instruction manual in a rental car? Using my "roam like home" (I had better get some sponsorship money for this product placement), I pulled up the manual on my phone. Unfortunately, between my screen size and my "fabulous" vision, I wasn't very successful. I walked back to fill in the girls about the goings on and called Karin (woke her up. Sorry B'gup) and she was able to find that lovely kernel of knowledge for us!!! I walked back to Uli, who had also decided to call the rental company and they explained the process of putting the car in reverse We loaded the girls and the bags into the vehicle and the group decision was to return the vehicle for a different one. The odour proved unbearable and only got worse with the a/c on. We suffered our way through the drive, windows rolled down. Upon arrival we unloaded our bags, put on our backpacks and trucked through the train station. The Hertz fellow was very accommodating and found us another vehicle--but we would have to drive 2 km to get it. Once again we hoisted on our backpacks and loaded up the car. We got in and rolled down the window, but not before putting Blistex (menthol scented) lip balm under our noses (thank goodness for kids who watch medical shows!) and Astrid and Signa donned nose clips! We made it to the rental company alive, but a bit worse for the wear. We were all a bit dizzy and a couple of us were feeling nauseated. Not our proudest moment as parents I will tell you. We were on our way at 1130, which was 3.5 hours behind schedule!! We made a stop at Étretat to see the beautiful cliffs. These are the famous cliffs that were painted by Monet and Sissely. It was breathtaking and well worth the stop. Driving on the narrow roads in a European version of a mini van was a challenge, but Uli did well. It is amazing the size of road they will have two way traffic on! Finally, we arrived at Juno Beach, just in time for the final guided tour of the day. The site is manned and the tours are guided solely by young Canadians who are bilingual. The girl selling the tickets was from Bon Accord, AB, the fellow letting us into the auditorium was from Montreal but living in Edmonton and our tour guide was from Burlington (on a side note--an ex-synchronized swimmer who claimed "Man that sport is hard!). The weather had been off and on for most of the day and as we headed out for the tour it started to rain, then thunder, and then rain some more. Our tour group was made up entirely of Canadians, so we were a hardy bunch up for the challenge of some bad weather. The tour started down in the German command post bunker. This bunker would have held perhaps 3 or 4 German soldiers on June 6, 1944 and was won by the men of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles via hand to hand combat as evidenced by the bullet holes in the walls. While inside the bunker the storm picked up and you could hear the rain through the window and hear as well as feel the thunder. It put us all in mind of what it must have been like on that morning with the bad weather and the bombs, shells and mines. Walking out onto the beach my mind kept creating images of the doors to the amphibious vehicles opening and the men being mowed down. The waves must have been red as they lost 50% of the men in the first wave of the landing. It is impossible to hold back tears when you are in a place of such loss, terror, bravery and sacrifice--nor should you. As a mother with an 18 year old, I put myself in the minds of thousands of Canadian mothers at that time--what a terrifying and helpless place to be. My paternal grandfather was not in Normandy on D-Day, but did fight with the Hasting and Prince Edwards throughout WWII. He came home. Far, far too many did not. It was a lovely drive to Caen and we checked into Hotel Astrid! That's right folks, Hotel Astrid! We were welcomed by the most amazing and charming woman at the reception desk. If you ever need palace to stay in Caen, I highly recommend this hotel! We made our way to the restaurant centre of town and had a lovely meal before literally falling into bed. A fabulous and emotional day to be sure!